Hye case before Miss. Appeals Court

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Terry Hye Jr. was a teenager when he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole in the 2008 slaying of a father who had stopped at a Moss Point store asking for directions to a prep football game.

Hye’s age — 16 at the time of the shooting death of Michael David Porter — could be factor in his appeal to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Briefs have been filed in the case, though the appeals court will not hear oral arguments.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June banned states from imposing mandatory life sentences on juveniles and could affect the court’s deliberations.

Hye was 16 when prosecutors said he participated in the shooting death of Porter outside a Moss Point gas station in October 2008.